Responding to a major fire in January at a battery storage plant in Moss Landing that sent a toxic cloud over a wide area and caused the evacuations of residents and the closure of Highway 1, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors late Tuesday took the first steps toward a ban on new battery plants in the county for a year or more while new safety rules are drafted.

Without comment, the supervisors allowed the proposal from Supervisor Glenn Church, whose district includes Moss Landing, to move forward. It requires the county staff in 30 days to draw up language for a moratorium on the construction of new plants or the expansion of existing ones, and deliver it to the supervisors for a vote.

“I’m trying to address a way for the county to have some input into sensitive areas like Moss La

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